similarity of names

we are using this construct

replace(replace(replace(replace(replace(replace(replace(replace(replace(replace(
        replace(replace(replace(
          lower(ANY_NAME),
        ' ',''),',',''),'ä','a'),'ü','u'),'ö','o'),'ß','s'),'oe','o'
),'ue','u' ),'ae','a'),
        'y','i'),'ll','l'),'nn','n'),'ss','s')

for comparing a given person-name with our database-person-names

is there a better solution or are the multiple replaces fast enough. In my programms I iterate char by char and substitute using fast case-constructs for substitution.
But I don't know how fast a char-by-char-solution in a PL/SQL-function would be.

-- 
Norbert
Oracle9i Enterprise Edition Release 9.2.0.8.0 64Bit